"The water off these black basalt shores drops to half a mile deep within a few hundred feet; further out, it falls to three miles."
Philip Hoare's 2008 book Leviathan is an enchanting account of his life-long obsession with whales. The author was recently filming with the BBC in the Azores archipelago in the mid-Atalantic ocean, where he came eye-to-eye with a huge sperm whale. You can read about his moving experience on the Guardian website.